You are most likely to get good design if the intended users include the designer, because looking down on the user corrupts the designer.

Drawn from what Paul Graham said

What this subject means

design How things should be made and judged: what makes a design good, who should do the designing, and what an interface is for.

Mental modelYou are not the user

In the views ondesignunder our view: The user is not you: design for what they need, and study them to improve what exists On the topicWhich mental models should a designer think with?under our view: You are not the user: watch real people meet the real thing On the topicWho should design software, and how?under our view: Design for users without taking their orders, and remember that you are not the user

What Paul Graham actually said

Paul Graham 1 Jan 2003 Co-founder of Y Combinator and Viaweb

You're most likely to get good design if the intended users include the designer himself. When you design something for a group that doesn't include you, it tends to be for people you consider to be less sophisticated than you, not more sophisticated. That's a problem, because looking down on the user, however benevolently, seems inevitably to corrupt the designer.

↗Design and Researchpaulgraham.com
1 Jan 2003

Added to korrents 6 Sept 2026 · How quotes work · Something wrong? Tell us

Do you hold this korrent?Do you also believe this?

I hold this too

Related korrents

Shared subject first, then similar wording. They may agree or disagree.

See this claim on the map